The 2014 Spa Six Hour event was officially a wash-out!  The event will be remembered for the spectacular lightening storm and torrential rain which dominated much of the race, causing the safety car to circulate on countless occasions.

107 cars started the race which kicked off at 16.10pm on Saturday 20 September, the first down-pour of rain occurred just 50 minutes into the race catching many competitors off guard after the bright sunny start.

The GT40’s dominated the race from lights to flag as usual but it was the GT40 of Martin Stretton who took the honours in the end after the front running GT40 of Jordan and Walker decided to park up having had enough of the gruelling weather. The Lotus Elan 26R of Wilson, Wolfe and Stirling did well to split the GT40 finishers coming 7th overall at the end of the long wet evening event.

For the Auto Addicts crew in the no.45 JME run Austin Healey 100M our race started well down the grid in the 80’s. Mike Thorne took the start in the early stages with an experimental heavy fuel load on our one stop strategy, but climbed the grid steadily by 25 places into 61st  just 1 hour in to the race.

The rain caused several crashes and early retirements, and within two hours with no driver or fuel stops the no.45 Healey was well on the way to a great result up to to no.35 overall when Mike came in to hand over to me.

I took over enjoying a drying circuit for most of my stint, although several accidents meant the safety car was in service much of the time. The fuel window was at 7pm, which is when I handed over to John Todd, and it was only 3 or 4 laps later when our troubles started.

The Healey arrived in the pits with steam pouring from the bonnet. A quick analysis from the team diagnosed it wasn’t just going to cool with added water; it was a more serious head gasket failure not surprising in the oldest car on the track!  So whilst we are backing the car into the garage to retire, it was around this time the heavens opened with more thunder and lightening arriving to liven up the evening.

The team decided there was nothing better to do than to take the head off initially to inspect it, not seriously thinking about getting back out on circuit.  But it was when the head came off, we saw a flicker of hope in the teams faces, and speedy chief mechanic Henry feverishly cleaned all the surfaces flat and fitted a new gasket.  All the while we are missing the torrential rain, safety car sessions and competitors who were simply giving up on the conditions.  One hour and 30 mins later, we had slid down to 84th position, but we also had a new head gasket fitted and were looking to rejoin the circuit.

John Todd retook his seat in the car, even though our neighbours tell us the conditions were dreadful,  – the rain eased off slightly but the Safety car was still out for much of the last part of the race.

The race was finally red flagged at just after 9pm, when reports were coming in that accidents were happening even behind the safety car, many cars had just abandoned the race due to the incredible monsoon conditions and it was just as another tranche of rain arrived when the race was finally officially stopped prematurely 8 minutes early.

For the AutoAddicts crew it wasn’t the race or result we were expecting but what an adventure!

The 2014 Spa Six Hour will definitely be marked down in history for the biblical storm which lit up the skies and caused rivers to run across the track. We will be back!

Editor: Sarah Bennett-Baggs  Photos: SBB, & Dave Brassington